Method and system for managing skills assessment

Abstract

The present invention is directed to a method and skills assessment tool for managing a testing session in a clinical skills testing center comprising a plurality of assessment stations. The method according to the preferred embodiment of the present invention includes configuring the plurality of assessment stations by associating each of the stations with a case type prior to the beginning of the testing session, receiving electronic identification of a student at one of a plurality of assessment stations prior to the student commencing an encounter at the one assessment station during the testing session, and, in response to receiving the student's identification, automatically assigning the student to the one assessment station for the encounter, where the encounter corresponds with the case type associated with the one assessment station.

Description

FIELD OF THE INVENTION [0001] The present invention relates to skills assessment, and more particularly, to an automated system for managing a skills assessment center. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0002] An integral part of medical training involves exposing students to hypothetical situations where they are expected to diagnose and treat patients. In such training sessions, actors, known as standard patients (“SPs”), are trained to exhibit certain “symptoms” and to respond appropriately to questions. A student is required to examine the SP within a certain time period, e.g., a 15 minute appointment, attempt to diagnose the SP's ailment and to propose a planned treatment. Through such a process, a student's clinical skills and “bed side manner” are assessed. [0003] Typically, clinical skills testing is conducted in an office setting where each office is set up as an examination room with an SP suffering from an ailment. Each examination room is equipped with monitoring equipment, in...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0012] Through the aspects of the present invention, the student is assigned to a particular assessment station at the time of the encounter in response to the student being electronically identified at the assessment station, by logging in, for example. In other words, the student is assigned to the assessment station in real-time, as opposed to before the testing session. By allowing the assignment to take place in real-time, the entire scheduling process is simplified and changes require little or no effort or involvement by the administrator.

Problems solved by technology

While the above described testing process seems rather straightforward, logistically, it presents many challenges.

If the clinical office has 10 examination rooms, 20-60 SPs, and 100-170 students in a testing session, one can easily understand how this configuration process is excessively time consuming and labor intense.

Changes to the configuration, e.g., if a student is unavailable to be tested on a particular date and must be rescheduled, are equally time consuming.

In addition, the student's mistake can cause other students to enter examination rooms to which they are not scheduled.

In this situation, the administrator can easily lose track of the students' identities, which then compromises the testing session.

This is not only difficult and time consuming, but also highly subjective, i.e., based on the reviewer's personal opinion.

Nevertheless, those systems still require the administrator to enter the name of a student for a particular time slot in a particular room for a particular testing session.

Therefore, the task of scheduling or rescheduling SPs, students and optionally, evaluators, for a testing session remains unduly burdensome.

In addition, none of the existing systems address the subjective nature of grading essay answers.

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